In bonnets we see a great variety of colored chips trimmed with ribbon to match or a good contrast. The fashionable flowers seem to be the elegant scarlet cactus, in bright, soft shades of velvet, which give it a peculiar lustre, magnolias, water-lilies, and geranium. Bright flowers, with brown grass and heather, have an excellent effect on the caps of bonnets which are trimmed with plaids.

Black crin, or horse-hair bonnets, are very much worn, and the new color Milan, which is between a salmon and a corn color, looks particularly well on them. Roses of this color, with scarlet berries and black ribbon, make a very stylish trimming.

Another new color is called flame de punch, from its resembling the bright, flickering light from the punch bowl. This color is particularly pretty for a white straw or ship bonnet. Amethyst is also one of the new colors.

Black crin also look[s] well trimmed with feathers having plaid tips. This is arranged by tipping each little feathery strand with a different color, which produces a plaid-like effect. Anther style of trimming for a black bonnet is a green and blue ribbon or velvet, and peacock’s tips; the last being very fashionable for children’s hats, for head-dress, and for trimming of ball dresses.

Tufts of feathers studded with jet, steel, and crystal, are much in vogue for bonnets and headdresses.

Travelling bonnets are made of silk to match the dress, or of colored straw. They are very much trimmed with chenille fringe, tipped with large beads falling over the face and crown. (Godey’s, April, 1864)